Computer graphics are frequently defined using sets of samples placed within locations of a defined space. The act of mapping these samples to locations within a set of coordinates is known as rasterizing the graphic. Such rasterization processes are frequently performed in the context of mapping the components of an image to pixels of a display. While storing images in a raster format may provide certain benefits, such as ease of compression and efficient display, storing images in such a format also introduces certain drawbacks. For example, altering the display size of a raster image from the size in which it is originally designed to be presented often causes a severe reduction in visual fidelity.
To address these problems and other problems with raster images, vector graphic formats have been developed, such as the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) standard. Such formats store images as a series of instructions for drawing the image, rather than a map of image elements to a particular known reference frame. For example, a vector graphics format may express an image as a set of vectors, relative node locations, line widths, colors, curve shapes, thicknesses, and/or fills. These formats offer the advantage of constant visual fidelity at all sizes. However, the act of displaying such images requires the use of a virtual canvas implemented by a software process that takes the series of instructions and “draws” the image by following the instructions. Each such image requires a separate virtual canvas, and executing the necessary processes to provide such a canvas may require substantial system resources. While present systems that utilize vector graphics may be able to display a small number of such graphics using a small number of canvases, the system resources required to implement interfaces that include large numbers of simultaneously displayed vector graphics, each with their own attendant canvas, make the use of vector graphics in such interfaces impractical. Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, the inventors have solved many of these identified problems by developing a technical solution that is embodied by the present invention, which is described in detail below.